5A Saturday11-13

When the lights turn green, you speed off looking for some fast laps. You quickly finish your outlap and approach the start/finish-line. Brake, turn for apex, throttle. Maintain throttle through the quick uphill combination onto the long straight. Brake for the chicane and ninety degree corner downhill to the long and slow right-hander. Turn left, throttle, lift for the long left-leaning follow through.

Straight, brake for chicane, another short straight and brake for another right turn. Step on the gas through another right turn, followed by two kinks left you take flat out. Brake for the final chicane and back on the gas towards the finish line. Rinse and repeat.

You really get a good flow going as you quickly turn in the laps. The radio calls you in for a new set of tires to which you quickly oblige. With the fresh pair of boots strapped to your car, you continue setting fast lap time after fast lap time.

After an hour, your moment of zen is forcefully ended as the red lights mark the end of the session. The car felt magnificent and you wish you were able to continue driving. As you turn into the garage, your mechanic holds up a tablet showing the fastest times of the session. To your surprise, you took second place. Not bad. Not bad at all as you gesture that you’ve seen the results.

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After the debrief, you quickly make your way through the hospitality section behind the garages looking for a bite to eat. The caterer has the usual healthy stuff, but your performance in this session has made you more eager to put in a good result in qualifying, so you swallow the organic salad without much of an effort. It helps that the laps you put in earlier got you starved.